


Auditoriums and Anticipation

by Rinzler



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 07:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6319417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinzler/pseuds/Rinzler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len secretly hates horror movies. Lisa obviously loves them. So when Lisa drags him to the newest blockbuster and Len starts to lose his cool, it takes the cute guy sitting next to him holding his hand for Len to chill out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Auditoriums and Anticipation

The curtain is ripped back from the old portrait and a hand uncurls, grey and decaying, fingernails yellowing and twisted. The blonde girl standing the the hallway doesn’t notice, just keep banging on the door, shouting for her brother to come out of the room. The flashlight in her hand waves wildly, the light flickering and sputtering.

The cinema holds its collective breath as the hand reaches closer, closer- fingernails scraping along the back of the girl’s neck. She freezes, hand against the door, and drops the flashlight. The camera pans from a side shot of her profile and the outstretched hand to a direct shot of her face, bloodless and white, eyes wide in dawning terror.

She’s yanked back into the portrait, an unearthly scream screeching from her lips.

The portrait ripples, paints mixing together and dripping like candle wax. Before the colors settle, the camera pans away and back to the door. A second later, it’s thrown open by the brother, who looks frantically around the hallway. 

“Annabeth!” He shouts. “Annabeth, where are-” His toe hits something and he crouches down, picking up the flashlight. He stands back up and waves it around, light glancing off the gilded frames of the portraits lining the hallway, the blond hair of the girl in one of them.

The beam of the flashlight slowly travels back, the camera following its progress. It skips across faded, stained, moldering wallpaper. Three portraits away, then two, then the light is being shined on the portrait directly in front of the door. 

Sitting in the portrait, Annabeth smiles back, neck twisted at a horrible, horrible angle. 

“Okay, _fuck_ no,” Len swears at the same time Lisa says delightedly “Oh my gosh, that’s so perfect!”

Len shoots a look of complete disbelief at her as the boy onscreen screams and drops the flashlight.

“Oh, don’t pout, Lenny,” Lisa says. “It’s so unattractive.”

“I am not-” Len hisses, then breaks off with a shout as a window bangs open onscreen. Wind howls down the hallway of the mansion, and the brother retreats back into the room. The door closes with a menacing click.

Next to him, Lisa stifles her laughter with a perfectly-manicured hand. “You are pouting, Lenny. Come on, what’s the matter? Scared?”

“I don’t get scared,” he snaps. Lisa rolls her eyes.

They’re a grand total of an hour into the movie when Len slips up completely. 

The brother is still in the bedroom, just now realizing that he’s been trapped in there with yet another grotesque monster. It- surprise, surprise- lives under the bed. Len alternates between looking anywhere at the screen and putting his hands over his ears, knowing something horrible is about to happen. 

Meanwhile, Lisa watches in awe as the monster onscreen drags the boy under the bed and proceeds to eat him alive. Sometimes Len wonders if his sister is secretly a serial killer and hasn’t gotten around to letting him know yet.

A bone is spat out from under the bed and Len turns away with a whimper. Lisa doesn’t notice. The person sitting on Len’s other side, however, does.

“Hey, are you okay?” 

“Peachy,” Len says as sarcastically as he can manage, then flinches again as the sound of crunching bone echoes through the cinema. The man next to him snorts.

“Yeah, and I can run a mile in three seconds.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Len says.

“So are you. Look, I know you’re scared, okay? You don’t have to pretend like you aren’t. It’s fine. I’m scared too.”

Well. That was unexpectedly…honest. Len straightens in his seat and opens his eyes, turning to look at the man next to him. 

It’s hard to pick out features in the flickering, red-tinged light of the movie screen, but the man is unexpectedly cute. Wide doe-eyes somewhere between hazel and green gaze at Len, Cupid’s-bow lips quirked into a tiny smile. His hair looks permanently windswept.

“Not a fan of horror movies, huh?” The guy asks. Len shakes his head.

“Lisa dragged me here.”

“Your girlfriend?” Is it just Len’s imagination, or does he look disappointed?

“Sister,” Len corrects. 

The man brightens almost imperceptibly. “Oh! Great! I mean not great. You’re obviously scared and that’s not great. At all. Uh. Do you want to hold my hand?”

“What?”

“I read somewhere that holding hands helps people feel less stressed, scared and upset. You seem pretty scared right now, so  maybe it would help calm you down? Only if you want to, though! I mean, we’re literally strangers, it’s kind of weird that I’m even asking- I wouldn’t want to force you into anything-”

The man’s nervous rambling stutters to a halt when Len reaches for his hand and smoothly entwines their fingers, shifting in his seat until he’s cradling the man’s hand close to his chest. They’re pressed shoulder-to-elbow, only the divide of the armrest keeping them apart.

“Thanks,” Len whispers. The man blushes.

“A- Anytime,” He manages. “Uh. I’m Barry, by the way.”

“Hello, Barry,” Len says. The blush intensifies. “You can call me Len.”

Another scream echoes from the screen, making everyone else in the cinema jump in fear. Neither of them notice.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from my tumblr. Find the original prompt here:  
> http://whyinhades.tumblr.com/post/141339003004/snarkysnartes-okay-but-len-secretly-hates


End file.
